Genoom Blog

Today we are very pleased to announce the Quick Edit feature that will make updating profiles a lot easier and faster. With Quick Edit you can view a list of your members in your family network, find out their missing data and make changes to the profiles in real time. This includes:

• User First name
• User Last name
• Date of birth, city and country
• Date of death, city and country

The Quick Edit is a Pro Member feature and can be accessed by going to the List View and clicking on the “quick edit” link at the top of the page.

The holidays are here!!  That means you can now create personalized holiday cards to send to your friends and family using any of the photos you have in your Genoom photo albums.  The process takes about 60 seconds and best of all it’s free!

To get started, simply go to one of your photos:

1) Click on the “Send this photo as Christmas Postcard” button below the photo.

2) Customize your postcard

3) Select who you want to send it to (you can even import your contact lists from other email accounts!)

4) Hit send!

Introducing the Genoom Toolbar! The toolbar is a free add-on to your web browser that lets you stay connected to Genoom and find out what’s happenening in your family network. It’s easy to install and works with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

Here are some of the features:

Google powered search - search the web with a simple click of the mouse

Quick links - access your home page, family tree, list and other pages

Add photos - start your photo uploads

New messages - receive a notification as soon as you have a new message

Events - reminders of important events in your family calendar

People counter - the number of people in your family network

Users online - find out if someone in your family is online

Status updates - read the latest activity in your family

Look for the toolbar graphic in the right-side column of your home page to get started. Or you may click the following links:

Go to English toolbar »

Go to Spanish toolbar »

Go to French toolbar »

Go to Portuguese toolbar »

Knowledge is worth sharing. So we decided to compose a list of our favorite genealogy sites to equip you with more resources and new tools as you move forward on your genealogical journey and create your family tree. We’ve divided these websites into several categories, although, there are some that could surely fit into more than one.

Records, Documents & Databases

WorldVitalRecords.com - Over a billion records including vital records, immigration lists, birth, marriage, death, military records and more…

Footnote - tens of millions of original source historic documents from the world’s finest archives available on the Internet

National Archives - preserves the records of the United States Federal government

Ancestry.com - records from the US, Canada and Europe including Federal Census records since 1790

DistantCousin - online archive of genealogy records and scanned images of historical documents

Interment.net - published transcriptions from 5,000+ cemeteries across the world

GenealogyBank - includes modern obituaries and historical newspapers, books, pamphlets, military records, government documents and more

Find A Grave - over 36 million grave records

Family Search - search records of your ancestors and explore free genealogy resources

Obituary Central - online database for finding obituaries and performing cemetery searches

GenWed - database and directory of marriage records in the U.S., Canada and UK

Genealogy Today - variety of sources including Masonic lodge rosters, funeral notices, school catalogues, yearbooks, telephone directories, church member list and more

DNA testing

Roots for Real - offers mtDNA, Y-DNA and autosomal DNA testing services

DNA Consultants - variety of DNA tests and personalized genealogical history reports

Family Tree DNA - self-proclaimed “world’s largest DNA testing company” in the new field of genetic genealogy

Nimble Diagnostics - full range of paternity, family relationship, drug, asthma, and ancestry DNA testing services

GeneTree - DNA testing services and visual representation’s of a family’s genetic history

DNA Heritage - DNA kits for paternal and maternal roots

Last Names

SurnameDB - free database containing over 50,000 surnames and their history

Behind the Name - etymology and history of surnames

Last Name Meanings - Ethnic origins and meaning of names of Irish, German, English, French, Italian, and Jewish descent.

Cousin Connect - database of surnames and genealogical query engine - store, search, and manage your queries

Blogs & Discussion

The Genealogue - insightful and funny genealogy blog authored by Chris Dunham

Eastman’s Online Genealogy - Dick Eastman’s genealogy blog and online newsletter

Genea-Musings - tips and commentary by Randy Seaver

The Genealogy Guys - podcasts and genealogy news since 2005 brought to you by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith

GenealogyBlog - genealogy insight and happenings co-authored by Leland & Patty Meitzler

Family Roots Radio - internet radio devoted to family history and genealogy, hosted by Kory L. Meyerink

Family Matters - as they say “tech support for the Family Historian”

GeneaBlogie - personal observations, news and tips by Craig manson

RootDig - resourceful genealogy blog authored by genealogy researcher and speaker Michael Neill

Dear Myrtle - online since ‘95, everything you need to know about genealogy

Genealogy Gems - online genealogy radio and free podcasts

Genealogy Insider - Family Tree Magazine’s genealogy blog written by Diane Haddad

Events

Genealogy Workshops - genealogical workshops and courses brought to you by the National Archives and Records Administration

Genealogy Meetup Groups - meet other local genealogists and people who are interested in genealogy near you

Federation of Genealogical Societies - calendar of genealogical society events in the U.S.

Events Calendar by NGS- conferences and events compiled by the National Genealogical Society

Genealogy Blog’s Events Page - comprehensive listing of events, workshops, conferences compiled by Genealogy Blog

Education & Resources

Cyndi’s List - massive directory of links and genealogy resources on the internet

Genealogylinks.net - over 50,000 genealogy links for US, UK, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Europe, Canada, Australia & New Zealand.

Genealogy Blog Finder - find blogs and content about genealogy on the web

Family Tree Magazine - special interest magazine covering everything related to genealogy; great overall resource

About Genealogy - lots of well-written content, links, tips and tutorials as well as a free genealogy newsletter

Genealogical.com - publisher of useful genealogy books and CDs that can be purchased directly from the site

Starting your family tree is something that requires a lot of effort and patience but the overall process can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. If you’re a newcomer and just beginning your adventure, get ready to roll up your sleeves but don’t get discouraged when you hit the occasional roadblock!

We’ve hand-selected three very knowledgeable genealogists to provide some insight about starting a family tree and presented them with the following question: 

What is the best piece advice you can give to someone that wants to start building their family tree?

Here’s what they have to say…

Dick Eastman (@dickeastman):
Write it down!

Researching your family tree is a very personal and rewarding experience. You can really find out who you are and where you came from.

One problem with collecting all the facts about your ancestry is that you can quickly become overwhelmed with the details. Names, dates, and places can become confusing as you find more and more ancestors. Luckily, the “problem” is easily solved.

Starting with your very first efforts, always record what you found. Record not only the names and the facts (dates and locations), always record where you found that information. In some cases, you found the information in a book. Other sources of information might be verbal from an older relative.
In any case, always write it down.

Your memory isn’t perfect! Someday you will ask, “Where did I obtain that information?” Recording it now solves future problems.

You can obtain a fancy computer program to capture your information or you can write it down on a plain piece of paper. The method is not important but make sure you record every scrap of information and the source where you found it.

Randy Seaver (@rjseaver):
Building your family tree will be a lifetime effort.  There is no such thing as a worldwide family tree with your family in it - you will have to search high and low for information about your ancestors and to find their family stories.

The search should be in all possible resources - in books, in court records, in state vital records, in passenger lists, in census records, in military records, in DNA testing, and in many more resources.  You may find information about your ancestors that is published by someone else in print or on the Internet.  You should use this information only as a finding aid - to help you find the original sources with primary information that prove birth, marriage, death and event facts and relationships.  You should attempt to verify or disprove every fact or story you find about your ancestor, and cite your source material.

Lastly, only a small percentage (probably less than 5% in 2009) of all genealogy information is on the Internet.  Enjoy the search for your ancestors, and honor them with your research.

Debra Fleming (@ancestrydetect):
The best advice I could give to a beginning genealogist would be to start writing your family history now.  Don’t collect documents and facts but start the narrative.  The reason for this is that it puts your focus on filling in the blanks of who they were and the time in which they lived, putting your ancestor into historical context and causing you to research in between the lines.  I inherited a narrative format from my father that he wrote for a college course when I was three years old.  The unusual thing about this narrative is the format.  It forces you to ask questions like:  What were their political leanings and why?  What Religion were they?  Did they attend church regularly?  Did their Religion influence their choices and decisions?  What does it mean that he was a member of the Knights of Columbus?  What kind of life was factory work in a Thread Mill?  Was it unusual to be an immigrant home owner in Willimantic, CT?  What was Willimantic like in 1919?

These are the actions of our ancestors lives.  We owe it to them to provide the verbs and adjectives that paint color on the lives of our ancestors.  They were not just a collection of facts or nouns.  They lived and we need to paint them that way with our narratives.  Starting out writing is the best way to keep our focus on what matters, the actions of their lives.  In other words, how they lived.

——

Thanks to Dick, Randy and Debra for their great advice!!

The External Search feature is designed to help you find possible relatives outside of your family network that may already be using Genoom.  With external search you can do a search using the person’s last name, first name, place and date of birth.

If  you do a search and no results show, that means there are no family members outside of your family network using Genoom.  However, if you do happen to find a relative in the external search results, you can then request to have your trees joined.

Today is International Day of Families and this year the theme is “Mothers and Families: Challenges in a Changing World”. The worldwide observance of this day was first proclaimed by the United Nations in 1997 as part of the United Nations Programme on the Family.

This year´s theme focuses on the role of mothers for families and the secretary general makes the following commentary in his message:

Mothers play a critical role in the family, which is a powerful force for social cohesion and integration. The mother-child relationship is vital for the healthy development of children. And mothers are not only caregivers; they are also breadwinners for their families. Yet women continue to face major – and even life threatening – challenges in motherhood.

We salute all mothers around the world!!

The Startup 2.0 event in Bilbao recently ended and we are proud to announce that Genoom was given the 2nd prize award as one of the top 3 startups in Europe.

The competition began with 157 nominated startups coming from 15 different countries in Europe and we had the opportunity to present among one of the 11 finalists. The event was held on April 24 & 25th in conjunction with the Nonick Conference.

We are very happy to anounce that Genoom has been selected as one of the top 11 startups in this year´s Startup 2.0 event.  The event, held on Friday April 24, will take place in Bilbao as part of the Nonick conference.

If you plan to go, make sure you come and say hello to us!

This week we are excited to release the new Status Bar feature in Genoom. The Status Bar is a fun way to share information and tell your family what you´re up to.

Your Status updates will be displayed in the top area of your profile and show up on the activity feed of your family members. You can also choose who views your Status updates by clicking on “edit” once you begin typing in the box.

So, what are you up to?